PROPOSED EQUATIONS FOR ESTIMATING THE FLEXURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF REINFORCED HPFRCC BEAMS

HPFRCC materials are a class of cement composites with fine aggregates that exhibit strain hardening behavior under tensile loading. This strain hardening response occurs after the first cracking of the material. In this paper, experimental and theoretical studies were conducted to assess the influence of using HPFRCC material instead of normal concrete in RC beams. The theoretical results for simply supported beams with different values of compressive strengths are presented and compared with the available experimental data. Results indicate that using HPFRCC material instead of normal concrete in RC beams concludes to more ultimate load, deflection and ductility compared to normal reinforced concrete beams. Moreover, new theoretical equations are proposed for estimating the flexural characteristics of reinforced composite and reinforced HPFRCC beams. Results show that the flexural capacity of reinforced HPFRCC beams is about 6.4% higher than that of RC beams. Moreover, flexural capacity of experimental reinforced HPFRCC beams is about 11.2% higher than that of theoretical values.